Booooo Kathie Lee Gifford

There will always be differing opinions within the mommy blogger circle on how much exposure, if any, of our kids is too much. That topic is fodder for one million (pinky to lip) blog posts, but that’s not what this one is about.

NBC’s Today show was set to run a segment on mommy bloggers this morning. I’d heard about it through a colleague of mine, LTV Mom, who contributes to the Silicon Valley Moms Blog and I tuned in so that I could learn more about it and see (instead of just read) some of the women that pioneered the phenomenon.

What I ended up watching got me very riled up. Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb seemed determined to turn what I thought would be an informative and interesting segment into a frustrating viewer experience.

On the Silicon Valley Moms Blog, tied to the post highlighting the segment airing, there is some chatter in the comments section about KLG and her behavior on the segment. One hot point was her seeming “attack” on guest Heather Armstrong, a very successful mommy blogger.

My synopsis of how it all went down:

First Kathie Lee admitted she doesn’t know how to use a computer. Fine. Weird for anyone in the professional world these days, but fine. She then seemed to not know the format for the segment, forgetting that pre-taped footage would air before the interview with Armstrong making the intro choppy. Then Kathie Lee butchered her first question for Armstrong based on her complete ignorance of all things computer related, such as blogging. Being in comms, I’m 99.99% sure that Armstrong or her “people” gave the show background material with an overview of what she does. And, I’m also fairly certain there are Today staffers also in charge of further prepping the talent. Apparently either it was so over KLG’s head that she didn’t get any of it, or she didn’t bother to read it at all (or maybe it came in an email, which she couldn’t figure out how to read). And then, KLG awkwardly cut Armstrong off on a few occasions to question her judgment in posting the intimate details of her family life, including photos of her four year old daughter (a little hypocritical, IMHO, based on KLG's past <3 of talking about her own kids on air - but again, whatevah). Then there was a weird moment of uncomfortably out of place triumph for KLG as she thought she’d proven something very important when Armstrong tried to use an analogy about privacy/child safety and incorrectly assumed KLG lived in New York city, which apparently she does not.

Again, the potential danger of revealing information about our children on our blogs is not what this post is about.

As others have commented on SV Moms blog - and I whole heartedly agree - is that whether you believe KLG to be correct or not has little to do with how disrespectful she was as a "professional journalist" (those are mocking air quotes if you couldn't tell).

She was ill prepared for the segment, and for Heather specifically. IMHO that's very disrespectful to the guest and to an audience tuning in for more than just one person's self-admitted uneducated opinion. She didn't let her guest finish her answers, and interrupted with loaded questions. Maybe this is common for the show/KLG? I wouldn't know...I tuned in specifically because I knew there would be a mommy bloggers segment and I wanted to listen in and learn more.

There's times I find it very stimulating (and entertaining) when host and guest disagree because it's usually a very passionate and educational discussion. This, however, was not the case today as there was very little education allowed.

I don't know KLG. And I won't judge her personal beliefs and opinions (ummm, any more than I already did here). However, she is paid to be a professional journalist on a very credible outlet and I would have hoped she'd acted like one.

Maybe you want a look-see so you can formulate your own opinion?






UPDATE: For a gal that doesn't know how to use a computer and came off very "anti", her website http://kathieleegifford.com/ sure seems pretty polished -- and includes pics of her whole family in their home. Must be the OTHER Kathie Lee.